Deep Ocean off Southern Greece to Be Field Test Site for Finalists in the $7M Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE
Final Phase of Global Competition Puts Rapid, Unmanned, High
Resolution Mapping of the Sea Floor to a Real-World Test
XPRIZE,
the global leader in designing and operating world-changing incentive
competitions, today announced the deep sea off Kalamata, Greece, has
been chosen as the field testing location for finalist
teams competing in the $7M
Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. Deep sea, real-world testing is a key
stage in the three-year global competition challenging teams to advance
ocean technologies for rapid, unmanned and high-resolution ocean
exploration and discovery. In this final field-testing round for the
Grand Prize of the competition, which starts in November and runs
through December, the teams have up to 24 hours to map at least 250 km2
of the ocean seafloor - an area that is nearly three times the area of
Paris - to depths down to 4,000 meters – a cold, dark and high-pressure
environment that is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.
On the southern coast of Greece, each team will launch and recover their
autonomous underwater technologies from XPRIZE’s Mission Control in
Kalamata. The competition area is approximately 500 km2 and
includes a number of underwater features. Finalist teams have to launch
from shore and their entries must travel to the competition location by
water or air and, with restricted human intervention, map at least 50
percent of the area – 250 km2 – at five meters resolution and
at depths down to 4,000 meters, identifying and imaging at least ten
archeological, biological or geological features at any depth, all
within 24 hours.
“We are excited to be bringing this XPRIZE to Greece, an amazing country
with a long history of scientific and technological advancements that
have benefited the world,” said Jyotika Virmani, Ph.D., prize lead and
senior director of XPRIZE’s Planet and Environment team. “The Shell
Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competing teams are creating breakthrough
technologies designed to operate in extreme conditions, with the goal of
rapidly mapping an area that has not previously been mapped at such high
resolution; we are providing the teams with an environment that is full
of mystery and geological features that will offer a true test of their
technologies.”
The Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE has the support of the Government of
Greece, including the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Maritime Affairs
and Insular Policy, Education, Research and Religious Affairs, Shipping,
and Culture and Sports. The operational team is also working with
multiple other organizations, including the National Centre of
Scientific Research Demokritos, Office of the Mayor of Kalamata,
Municipal Port Fund of Kalamata, Hellenic Coast Guard/Central Port
Authority, and the Hellenic Center for Marine Research to ensure smooth
operations by providing logistical assistance. Competition organizers
also continue to work with Fugro, an industry leader in ocean mapping;
and Esri, the global leader in geographic information system (GIS)
software. XPRIZE is also partnering with Singularity University, which
is hosting the SingularityU
Greece Summit in November, at which Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, founder
and executive chairman of XPRIZE, will give the opening keynote and Dr.
Virmani will discuss the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE.
“We are proud that Kalamata was chosen to be the host city to this
international competition and are happy to be able to provide the
infrastructure and logistics to support the demonstration of new and
exciting technologies,” said Panagiotis Nikas, mayor of Kalamata. “The
waters surrounding Kalamata provide teams in the Shell Ocean Discovery
XPRIZE with a unique and varied underwater landscape for exploration,
and we look forward to supporting their work in this important final
round of real-world testing.”
At the end of the competition, a $4M Grand Prize and $1M Second Place
Prize will be awarded to the teams that receive the top scores for
demonstrating the highest resolution seafloor mapping. After the
competition has ended, the high-resolution seafloor map will be used by
NCSR-Demokritos, the largest research center in Greece, and their
Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics as part of a worldwide
scientific collaboration to establish a new generation Neutrino
telescope in the Mediterranean.
A secondary test location to support the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) $1M Bonus Prize will take place in
early 2019, once the Grand Prize testing has been completed. This will
give all Bonus Prize finalist teams an opportunity to test their
technologies and will determine the Bonus Prize winner. In this prize,
competing teams will need to demonstrate that their technology can
“sniff out” a specified object in the ocean by tracing a biological or
chemical signal to its source.
For the latest information about the competition structure, important
dates and the finalist
teams please visit: https://oceandiscovery.xprize.org.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the global leader in designing and
implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest
challenges. Active competitions include the Lunar XPRIZE, the $20M NRG
COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, the $15M Global Learning XPRIZE, the $10M ANA
Avatar XPRIZE, the $7M Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, the $7M Barbara
Bush Foundation Adult Literacy XPRIZE, the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE and
the $1.75M Water Abundance XPRIZE. For more information, visit www.xprize.org.
About Shell
Shell companies have been technology pioneers for more than 100 years,
and have come up with many industry-transforming “firsts” to deliver
energy to its customers. Since 2007, Shell has spent more than $1
billion annually on research and development. In 2014, our research and
development expenditures were $1.2 billion, and Shell’s technical and
engineering staff number more than 43,000 people.
Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and
territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and
production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to
liquids; manufacturing, marketing, and shipping of oil products and
chemicals and renewable energy projects. Royal Dutch Shell plc is
incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague,
and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges.
For further information, visit www.shell.com.
About National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a
science-based federal agency within the Department of Commerce with
regulatory, operational, and information service responsibilities with a
presence in every state and U.S. territories. NOAA's mission is to
understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the
depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and
manage coastal and marine resources. For more information, visit www.noaa.gov.
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